- Kevin Reeve has been practicing fencing for less than two years, yet he’s been invited to represent the Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation in Wales at the Wheelchair World Cup.
- Reeve, a former boxer, turned to fencing after a motorcycle crash left him a double amputee.
This year Kern County will be represented at the Wheelchair World Cup thanks to a former boxer who found his love for the sport following a motorcycle accident.
“There’s no time to think, just keep moving around and I think that’s what I like," said Kevin Reeve.
Reeve has always had a busy mind, so he finds peace in athletics.
“It’s constantly mind reading, trying to see what they’re doing and trying to give them something to misdirect and make them think you’re doing something else," he said.
That’s what made him fall in love with boxing, but after a motorcycle crash left him a double amputee, the athlete could no longer get in the ring. He didn’t get comfortable, though. In fact Reeves said he tried sport after sport until he found fencing.
“We are very excited to have Kevin Reeve going to a World Cup event," said Lucas Dobrzanski, president of the Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation.
Dobrzanski see’s Reeve as an inspiration to others para-athletes, with his performance at the National Championships after less than a year of training earning him a spot at the competition in Cardiff.
“If they’re interested in a sporting activity I hope they try and pursue it," said Reeve.
Reeve finds similarities in fencing from his boxing days, which made it the perfect sport for him to transition into.
“When you come in here it’s a one on one sport and it comes down to timing distance, misdirection, it's the same thing," he said.
Reeve will leave from Meadows Field Airport on January 8, with the public invited to send him off at noon.
He’ll be competing in wheelchair foil and wheelchair saber.
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